Greg Sergeant hammering Romney on acting like it’s 1980, and he’s right, it’s not 1980. It’s much worse.

No Romney’s not Reagan, but then Reagan wasn’t Reagan, at least not the one of lore. Obama’s not Carter, but believe it or not he’s much more inept. I actually think that Carter was a much more capable president than Obama, and as we saw today with what Bob Woodward has told us so far, I’m right. Carter would have never gotten pushed around, confused, and made a non-entity as Obama has become.

True it’s a vastly changed world and demographics have changed, so a direct comparison is really not possible. We could compare whether economic conditions in 2012 are worse than they were in 1980, and we might get closer. We know from the jobs report that job participation is at about the same level it was in 1980, about 400,000. But what makes 2012 like 1980 isn’t one of tangibility, but of belief. The question, do Americans by and large believe Obama is a competent President and can he lead the country out of it’s financial mess. In 1980 the answer was “no” and Carter was tossed from office.

Right now that’s a question voters will have to decide in November. Voters may like Obama, think he’s a nice guy, but that’s not the same as saying they believe that he’s competent.